Biswajit Banerjee and Debasish Chakraborty V. The Union of India through CBI

A.B.A./2976/2023

AI Insights

The case involves petitioners Biswajit Banerjee and Debasish Chakraborty, who sought anticipatory bail in connection with economic offenses under the Indian Penal Code and the Prize, Chits and Money Circulation (Banning) Act, 1978. The allegations stem from their roles as directors of M/s Silverson Infrastructure Limited, which engaged in unauthorized public deposit schemes promising high returns. The CBI, after taking over the investigation from local police, filed a charge-sheet accusing the petitioners of conspiracy and misappropriation of public funds. The court considered the nature of the allegations, the stage of the investigation, and precedents in granting anticipatory bail.

• Counselvise Citation: [2023] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 801021 (HC-JHARKHAND)
• Appeal Type: Others
• Pronouncement Date: 03-10-2023
• Assessment Year: misc
• Other Referred Cases: 2021 SCC OnLine SC 941, 2023 SCC OnLine SC 299
• Laws Referred To: Indian Penal Code, Prize, Chits and Money Circulation (Banning) Act, 1978, Code of Criminal Procedure
• Result in Favour of: Others
• Court: HIGH COURT
• Department Lawyers: ANIL KUMAR; CHANDANA KUMARI; NITISH SARTHI
• Assessee Lawyers: RAM PRAKASH SINGH
• Keywords: Anticipatory bail; Charge Sheet; Custodial interrogation; Economic offence; Public Money Misappropriation
• Section: 6; 5; 4; 120; 156(3); 420; 406; 438(2)

Judgement Text

"1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI A. B. A. No. 2976 of 2023 1.Biswajit Banerjee 2.Debasish Chakraborty. .... .. ... Petitioner(s) Versus The Union of India through CBI .. ... ...Opp. Party(s) ........... CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE GAUTAM KUMAR CHOUDHARY ......... For the Petitioner : Mr. Ram Prakash Singh, Advocate For the CBI : Mr. Anil Kumar, ASGI Ms. Chandana Kumari, AC to ASGI Mr. Nitish Parth Sarthi, AC to ASGI …… 09/ 03.10.2023. Heard the parties. 2. Apprehending his arrest, petitioners above-named have moved this Court for grant of anticipatory bail in connection with R. C. Case No.63(S)/ 2017 E.O.W./ Ranchi (arising out of Pakur [Nagar] P.S. Case No.154 of 2013) registered under Sections 420 read with Section 120 of the Indian Penal Code & Sections 4, 5, 6 of Prize, Chits and Money Circulation (Banning) Act, 1978. 3. PCR Case No.13 of 2013 filed by one Khurshid Nawaj against the petitioners and others was forwarded under Section 156(3) Cr. P.C. and on the basis of which Pakur (Town) P.S. Case No.154 of 2013 was registered under Sections 420 read with Sections 120 and 406 of the Indian Penal Code. 4. During pendency of the investigation by the Police, investigation of the case was taken over by the CBI pursuant to the direction of this Court in W.P.(PIL) No.1635 of 2014. The CBI has completed the investigation and submitted its charge-sheet on 29.11.2019 under Section 420 read with Section 120 and 406 of the Indian Penal Code & Sections 4, 5, 6 of Prize, Chits and Money Circulation (Banning) Act, 1978. 5. Case of prosecution in brief is that petitioners along with one Md. Nasiruddin Sk. were the promoters as well as Directors of the company being M/s Silverson Infrastructure Limited which was registered on 16.09.2020. They were involved in money collection business since the year 2011 which continued till 2012. It is alleged that petitioner [Bishwajit Banerjee] was Director of the said company and in criminal conspiracy with one Debasish Chakraborty along with one Md. Nasiruddin Sk.@ David launched various deposit schemes for general public, namely, F.D. Schemes, redeemable preference scheme shares, recurring deposit schemes etc. The total amount of money collected was Rs.4,00,63,671/-, out of which, Rs.1,97,36,120.29/- was returned back as maturity to the investors. The deposits were received from the general public without permission from the regulatory bodies. The deposit was being received mostly in cash. No actual produces was given to the investors. The investments were made from the Branch 2 of Pakur, NTPC, Farraka in the State of Jharkhand. Windfall returns were promised in the form of high interest rate as high as 83.3% per annum. 6. It is submitted by learned counsel for the petitioners that the original complainant (Khurshid Nawaj) was the then Branch Manager at Pakur and the complaint has been filed counter to the legal notice sent by petitioner no.1 to him to deposit the amount received in investments from the public at large. It is further submitted that the legal notice was sent on 27.12.2012 whereas the complaint has been filed on 07.01.2013. 7. In the entire complaint, there is no allegation of misappropriation of public money on the part of the petitioners. The name(s) of the investors is not disclosed in the charge-sheet as to whose amount has been misappropriated. 8. It is submitted that the charge-sheet has also been submitted and no further purpose will be served by custodial interrogation of the petitioners. Reliance is placed on the judgment reported in 2021 SCC OnLine SC 941 and also on the judgment reported in 2023 SCC OnLine SC 299. 9. Learned ASGI for the CBI has opposed the prayer. It is submitted that the matter involves with regard to economic offence as much public money has been misappropriated by the company in which the petitioners were the founding Directors. Considering the submissions of learned counsel and the fact as discussed above, the anticipatory bail application is allowed. Hence, in the event of their arrest or surrender within a period of three weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order before the learned court below, the petitioners named above shall be released on bail on furnishing bail bond of Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees One Lakh) each with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of learned Court below, subject to the conditions laid down under Section 438(2) Cr. P.C. and subject to the condition that one of the bailors must be Income Tax Payee. (Gautam Kumar Choudhary, J.) Sandeep/uploaded. "